The Science Behind Star Trek Technology [Infographic]

We all know that technology advances fast, but do you realize how fast? If you look at what we are able to do today compared to just two or three years ago, well, it’s nuts. Think about it, the first generation of the iPhone was released five years ago this month. Doesn’t it seem like we’ve had iPhones longer than that? How did we ever live without smartphones in the first place?

Another example is 3D printing technology. It’s moving so fast that once an article publishes about it, it’s old news within no time. We just learned a few days ago that Siri has even evolved, and she is much smarter now than she was a year ago.

Scientists are also working on some mind boggling things that will soon be real, like augmented reality contact lenses. Microsoft has even developed the world’s first Universal Translator (or as close to it as we’ll get right now since we don’t communicate with people of other species yet). It’s an exciting time, and it’s easy to fall behind the latest developments. I suppose that is one reason why I can’t break away from my laptop for very long.

Speaking of Microsoft’s Universal Translator, I love how so many people measure our technology advances by comparing them to Star Trek technology. It’s such a great analogy, and a fabulously fun way to track technological progress. About 7 months ago, I wrote an article called Star Trech Technology: It’s Closer Than You Think. It was an article that provided an overview about how much closer we are to living like Spock and the rest of the crew.

Now, 7 months later, we would like to feature a new infographic called The Science of Star Trek which tracks where we are right now. 7 months of progress in technology is like 10 years in many other fields, so when you compare the two, it’s a lot of fun. When I look at some of this stuff it blows me away because we’ve really come far! Imagine what this infographic would look like in just a few years from now. [Infographic designed by: Best Computer Science Degrees]